Small and Medium enterprises offer over 59 million jobs in Nigeria

Ibrahim Abdumalik, a Deputy Director in the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) says over 37 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are offering over 59 million jobs in Nigeria.Mr Abdumalik, who is in charge of Enterprise Development and Promotion in the agency, said this on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of a capacity building workshop for young business owners, orgnaised by SMEDAN in Yenegoa, the Bayelsa State capital.He, however, regretted that the global recession had adversely affected so many enterprises with MSMEs as the worst affected.He said the challenges posed by the recession should serve as a catalyst for innovative enterprises.Mr Abdumalik, who represented the Director-General, Diko Radda, at the event, said the training was designed to curtail the mortality of small businesses in Nigeria.He said, “MSME is for sure the most viable instrument for diversifying our economy and tapping into the rich but largely dormant resource deposits across the length and breadth of Nigeria.“The stiff competition in the global markets have tended to further stifle the operations and growth of our MSMEs that can rightly be classified as ‘endangered species’.